Xu Yinian blinked in surprise. Gradually, a look of dependent gratitude filled her eyes, making them sparkle. When she looked up at Bai Ran, her vision was filled with her alone. No one could help but fall for such a look.
Bai Ran smiled thinly and ruffled Yinian’s soft hair. “I guessed. It was such a small thing, yet you were too shy to say anything.”
With that, she naturally stepped into the bathroom. The room was still warm, saturated with Xu Yinian’s scent.
Bai Ran wondered if Xu Yinian had noticed her scent when she entered. Perhaps she had even been stained by it. Just like the erotic fantasies she’d played out in her mind earlier while she was in here.
Her eyes darkened as she picked up the bundle of wet clothes Xu Yinian had left on the rack. She glanced at them surreptitiously; there were no undergarments. That made sense. Since Yinian hadn’t brought a change of clothes, if her only set of underwear was here, she would be completely bare under that robe right now.
Given how bashful she was, there was no way she could be this calm if that were the case.
Bai Ran was about to leave when her peripheral vision caught the streak on the mirror—the one Xu Yinian had wiped, mirroring her own. Her breath hitched. A flash of raw desire surfaced in her eyes.
She touched it…
She could hear Xu Yinian saying, “I can do it myself.”
Bai Ran stared at that mark on the glass for a long time, until the hunger in her gaze became so overwhelming she had to forcibly suppress it before turning back to the room.
From the doorway, Xu Yinian could only see Bai Ran’s back. Seeing her staring at the mirror, Yinian felt a bit embarrassed that her childishness had been discovered.
“I… I just accidentally wiped it the same way,” Xu Yinian mumbled guiltily.
Bai Ran finally turned around. The tenderness in her eyes was deep enough to drown in as she stared at the girl. “Niannian… why are you so cute?”
So cute I want to take you right now.
“Wh-What do you mean ‘cute’?” Xu Yinian’s mind went blank. She was terrible at handling compliments. She even forgot to ask for her clothes back; by the time she recovered, Bai Ran had already handed them over to the receptionist at the door.
For an “Eldest Daughter” used to luxury hotels, being familiar with such services wasn’t strange. But what made the act truly intimate was the quiet boundary-crossing—the easy, practiced way Bai Ran took control of Xu Yinian’s private matters. It was the kind of natural behavior reserved for lovers or family.
Xu Yinian was still her usual unguarded, slow-witted self, but as she leaned against the bathroom doorframe, a shadow loomed over her.
“Do… do you need to shower?” Sensing that wasn’t it, Xu Yinian could only think to ask that.
“I already showered at the dorm before we left.” Shen Ruoshuang’s gaze swept over the frosted glass. If Xu Yinian were the only one in the room, she would have been happy to shower again. But with the lingering ghost of Bai Ran everywhere, she had no desire to expose herself to anyone other than Xu Yinian.
“Then why are you…”
Xu Yinian had no idea why Shen Ruoshuang’s lips were pressed into such a thin, displeased line. Shen Ruoshuang couldn’t exactly call out the blatant, “thoughtful” overstepping Bai Ran had just performed.
She could only seethe in silent jealousy. She stared into Xu Yinian’s eyes for a long time, until the girl began to shift uncomfortably and look away.
Finally, she spoke in a cold, clear voice. “Do you know what time it is? Change your clothes. We’re sleeping.”
It was as if the person seething with jealousy and this ethereal, untouchable “Goddess of the High Peaks” weren’t the same person at all.
But no one knew that her demand to “change” was a forced attempt to break the “couple” look shared by Bai Ran and Xu Yinian.
It had been past the eleven o’clock curfew when Xu Yinian came out, and with all the commotion, it was now past one in the morning. Tomorrow, everyone except Xu Yinian had an 8:00 AM class—especially the “curriculum kings” of the Chemistry and Clinical Medicine departments.
Xu Yinian hurriedly scrambled out of the way to let her through. To her surprise, Shen Ruoshuang was just as modest as she was; she even turned off the bathroom light while she changed.
The sudden darkness reminded Xu Yinian of the gaze she had just been unable to pull away. Her heart skipped a beat.
Wait, what was I just doing? I was clearly trying to look at Shen Ruoshuang…
The camisole, the collision on the school bus—one incident after another had made Xu Yinian increasingly curious about the full picture of that body. Even if she didn’t say it, her instinctive reactions were completely at odds with her usual shy, avoidant nature.
Horrified by her own “perverted” intentions, Xu Yinian felt a surge of panic. At that moment, from behind the door, she heard the unmistakably clear sound of fabric rustling against skin.
Unable to endure the tension, Xu Yinian turned and fled into the main room.
.
When Bai Ran and the freshly changed Shen Ruoshuang walked into the bedroom one after the other, they saw Xu Yinian clutching her pillow and blanket, hurriedly trying to leave the sleeping area.
Upon seeing them, her footsteps faltered, though she looked reluctant to stop.
“The bed might not be big enough for three people. I’ll go to the sofa,” Xu Yinian blurted out.
The refusal from both Shen Ruoshuang and Bai Ran was instantaneous and sharp:
“No.”
“Niannian, I only want to be with you.”
And so it began… the very scene she had predicted. From the moment she heard there was only one bed and that Shen Ruoshuang was staying, she had imagined this outcome more than once.
Trying to bluff her way out hadn’t worked. Xu Yinian forced the words out: “Then… we’ll just have to all sleep together?”
If they wanted to sleep with Xu Yinian, they would have to share. This time, neither Shen Ruoshuang nor Bai Ran objected.
Xu Yinian was naturally placed in the middle, serving as the buffer between the two rivals. It wasn’t so much an “arrangement” as it was a strategic occupation.
Shen Ruoshuang and Bai Ran claimed the edges of the bed with the speed of generals dividing territory. They looked perfectly composed, showing not a hint of awkwardness.
They left only the center for her. Since climbing in from the left or right would mean crawling over one of them, the only safe way for Xu Yinian to get into bed was from the foot… in an incredibly embarrassing crawling motion.
